The clergy is what? Definition, the church hierarchy

The choice of faith today is a private matter for everyone. Now the church is completely separated from the state, but a completely different situation evolved in the Middle Ages. In those days, it was the church that depended on the welfare of both the individual and society as a whole. Even then, groups of people were formed that knew more than others, they could convince and lead them. They explained the will of God, that's why they were respected and asked for advice. The clergy is what? What was the clergy of the Middle Ages, and what was its hierarchy?

How did the clergy originate in the Middle Ages?

In Christianity, the first spiritual leaders were apostles who, through the ordinance of ordination, gave grace to their heirs, and this process did not cease for centuries both in Orthodoxy and in Catholicism. Even the modern priests are the direct heirs of the apostles. Thus in Europe there was a process of the birth of the clergy.

What was the clergy in Europe?

The society at that time was divided into three groups:

• Knights-feudal lords - those people who fought;
• Peasants - those who worked;
• The clergy are those who prayed.

At that time, the clergy is the only educated class. At the monasteries there were libraries where monks stored books and copied them, it was there that science was concentrated before the emergence of universities. Barons and graphs could not write, so they used seals, it was not even worth talking about peasants. In other words, the clergy is the definition of the ministers of religious worship, these are people who are able to mediate between God and the common people and are engaged in religious rites. In the Orthodox Church, the clergy is divided into "white" and "black".

White and black clergy

The white clergy are priests, deacons serving temples are the lower clergy. They do not vow celibacy, they can start a family and have children. The highest rank of the white clergy is the protopresbyter.

The black clergy means monks who devote their whole lives to serving the Lord. Monks give a vow of celibacy, obedience and voluntary poverty (nestyahaniya). Bishop, Archbishop, Metropolitan, Patriarch is the highest clergy. The transition from white to black clergy is possible, for example, if the parish priest has a wife - he can get a monastic vows and go to a monastery.

In Western Europe (and Catholics to this day), celibacy was vowed by all spiritual representatives, naturally the estate could not be replenished. How, then, could you become a spiritual person?

How did they become representatives of the clergy?

At that time, the younger sons of the feudal lords could not enter the monastery, who could not inherit the state of their father. If a poor peasant family was not able to feed a child, they could also give it to a monastery. In the families of kings, the eldest son occupied the throne, and the younger became a bishop.

In Russia, the clergy emerged after the adoption of Christianity. Our white clergy are people who, as if they did not give, still do not give a vow of celibacy, which was the reason for the emergence of hereditary priests.

The grace that was given to a person during his elevation to the holy dignity was not dependent on his personal qualities, so it would be wrong to consider such a person ideal and to demand from him the impossible. He remains at all costs a man with all the advantages and disadvantages, but this does not negate grace.

Church hierarchy

The priesthood, which was formed in the second century and operates until the present time, is divided into 3 stages:

• The deacons take the lowest step. They can participate in the committing of the sacraments, help the higher ranks to perform rituals in the temples, but they have no right to conduct service independently.
• The second step that the clergy of the church occupies is priests or priests. These people can independently conduct services, conduct all ceremonies, except for ordination (the sacrament, during which a person gains grace and becomes a servant of the church himself).
• The third, the highest step is occupied by bishops, or bishops. Only monks can attain this rank. These people have the right to perform all the sacraments, including ordination, in addition, they can lead the diocese. Archbishops ruled larger dioceses, metropolitans, in turn, ruled over an area that included several dioceses.

Is it easy today to be a clergyman? Clergy are those people who listen daily during confessions to a lot of complaints about life, confessions of sins, see a huge number of deaths and often communicate with those who are slaughtered by the parishioners. Each clergyman should carefully think through each of his sermons, besides this, one must be able to convey the holy truths to people.

The difficulty of each priest's work is that he is not entitled, as a doctor, teacher or judge, to work out the time and forget about his duties - his duty is every minute with him. Let's be grateful to all the priests, because everyone, even the most remote from the church, can come to the moment when the help of the priest will be invaluable.